A brief history of my address book
Aug. 23rd, 2014 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutIn the mists of time (probably the 1980s), I had a little notebook that I kept a lot of information in, including names, addresses and phone numbers. This would have been pre-email. I did not (and you probably aren't going to believe this, given that I was a computer science major, and then worked in the field for a number of years) own a computer of my own until I retired. (Told you you wouldn't believe it.) While I was in college, I kept some files with phone number and email information in them, that I would periodically print out, altho I was not nearly as organized about this as Some People I Knew.
Some years later, those highly organized people all started buying Palm Pilots, but I held off for a while. I did eventually give in, and bought a series of Palms and Treos, usually the ones that had the cartridges, including the short-lived Treo phone (I loved that thing, altho the microphone kept breaking). The last Treo I bought had wi-fi. I had it after I moved to Mayberry the first time, and of course I synced it to whatever computer I lived with, so the iMac before the move, and R.'s computer after I moved.
Then I bought a feature phone, and programming contacts into that was a nightmare, so a long twilight of horribleness occurred. I went from having a device that was my calendar, phone book, and even did some mapping and routing, to basically nothing. I went from having laboriously moved all my billing and payments online to everything slowly reverting to paper (usually because of one email delay). I had honestly _forgotten_ that I was once an organized person, in the haze of pregnancies and caring for babies and then young children with special needs. I tried a Crackberry, but it bricked itself. And then I finally got an iPhone. For whatever reason (probably because I finally could), I dug up the ancient address book (I had gotten it off of where it had been synced, into Yahoo at some point), moved it over to Apple's Contacts, and then started updating everything based on hundreds of My Contact Info Has Changed Emails that had been accumulating in my inbox for years. That, in turn, was part of the OMG I have over 500 messages in my inbox this has got to be fixed, project.
It is quite straightforward to synchronize your Address Book using Apple Contacts on a Mac computer, iOS device(s) such as a phone, iPad, etc. With the deployment of iCloud, you can even log into your contacts (and Notes, etc.) on anything at all that has a web browser and an internet connection. It is worth doing, because then you will have your up-to-date address book with you everywhere you go, because I know for damn sure you are sleeping with your iOS device and even taking it into the bathroom. I know this, because I read the news, and I've read about your device burning up your pillow, and I know that dropping your phone into the toilet bowl is a tragic and all too common event around the world.
Are there other ways to accomplish this? Damn straight! If you live on Android, I'm sure you can find a buddy who has something brilliant set up over there and she can help you get it all figured out. But having a cloud based address book is the most amazing thing ever, because it eliminates all those business cards and stupid little pieces of paper that live in your purse, pocket or wallet. Also, people are impressed, because you can quickly get in touch with everyone you know.
Some years later, those highly organized people all started buying Palm Pilots, but I held off for a while. I did eventually give in, and bought a series of Palms and Treos, usually the ones that had the cartridges, including the short-lived Treo phone (I loved that thing, altho the microphone kept breaking). The last Treo I bought had wi-fi. I had it after I moved to Mayberry the first time, and of course I synced it to whatever computer I lived with, so the iMac before the move, and R.'s computer after I moved.
Then I bought a feature phone, and programming contacts into that was a nightmare, so a long twilight of horribleness occurred. I went from having a device that was my calendar, phone book, and even did some mapping and routing, to basically nothing. I went from having laboriously moved all my billing and payments online to everything slowly reverting to paper (usually because of one email delay). I had honestly _forgotten_ that I was once an organized person, in the haze of pregnancies and caring for babies and then young children with special needs. I tried a Crackberry, but it bricked itself. And then I finally got an iPhone. For whatever reason (probably because I finally could), I dug up the ancient address book (I had gotten it off of where it had been synced, into Yahoo at some point), moved it over to Apple's Contacts, and then started updating everything based on hundreds of My Contact Info Has Changed Emails that had been accumulating in my inbox for years. That, in turn, was part of the OMG I have over 500 messages in my inbox this has got to be fixed, project.
It is quite straightforward to synchronize your Address Book using Apple Contacts on a Mac computer, iOS device(s) such as a phone, iPad, etc. With the deployment of iCloud, you can even log into your contacts (and Notes, etc.) on anything at all that has a web browser and an internet connection. It is worth doing, because then you will have your up-to-date address book with you everywhere you go, because I know for damn sure you are sleeping with your iOS device and even taking it into the bathroom. I know this, because I read the news, and I've read about your device burning up your pillow, and I know that dropping your phone into the toilet bowl is a tragic and all too common event around the world.
Are there other ways to accomplish this? Damn straight! If you live on Android, I'm sure you can find a buddy who has something brilliant set up over there and she can help you get it all figured out. But having a cloud based address book is the most amazing thing ever, because it eliminates all those business cards and stupid little pieces of paper that live in your purse, pocket or wallet. Also, people are impressed, because you can quickly get in touch with everyone you know.